Air rage incidents on board UK flights have quadrupled over the last three years, according to new figures.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has revealed that there were 386 dangerous incidents last year, compared with just 85 in 2013.
Some of the examples of incidents given by the CAA were passengers brawling with each other and one person who had to be restrained after trying to open the plane door.
Airline staff have said the problem is made worse by alcohol-fuelled passengers getting drunk in airports before boarding flights.
Crew member ‘Dan Air’, who has documented verbal and physical violence aboard aircrafts on his Confessions of a Trolley Dolly, wrote: “It has got a lot worse in the last few years – alcohol and drug-fuelled.
“A lot of the time people think they’re in a club or a bar. They behave like animals. We’re getting to the point where we have to be bouncers.”
The head of budget airline Jet2.com, which has banned 22 passengers for life this year for bad behaviour, has called for disruptive passengers to be banned by all airlines.
Je2.com managing director Phil Ward said: “I think it would act as a very strong deterrent - and, in fact, there is some work with all the airlines together going on to bring that to the table, to see if that can be correctly arranged between us all.”
